Fetish: SanDisk Connect

Tiny NAS. Photo: Courtesy of SanDisk

Smartphones and tablets are great for so many things, but file-sharing is not one of them. Transferring things to and from mobile devices is painful and annoying, like a rash. But today, we get a refreshing salve.

SanDisk has announced the Connect Wireless Media and Flash Drives. Both drives act as tiny Wi-Fi servers, so you can connect directly to the drives to access the files within. Even better, up to eight devices can access each drive at once — helpful when you’re trying to share files across multiple devices at once.

We’ve seen a few of these Wi-Fi portable drives, and they’re great for when you need more storage than is available on your mobile device. Most are bulky, but the Connect Wireless Flash Drive (16GB and 32GB) resembles an average-sized thumb drive, and you charge the battery by plugging it into your computer’s USB port. The Connect Media Drive (32GB and 64GB) is bigger — roughly the shape of a small Apple TV — and it has an SD card slot. It’s perfect for dumping photos shot on a “real” camera to your Wi-Fi-only tablet. The Connect Media is charged via a supplied power supply. Both devices will work with iOS and Android devices via SanDisk apps. Sorry, Windows Phone and BlackBerry (though you’re probably used to hearing that).

Both Connect drives are available for pre-order now. The SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive can be had for $50 (16GB) or $60 (32GB). The SanDisk Connect Wireless Media Drive will set you back $80 (32GB) or $100 (64GB).